ABC ’20/20′: Dalia Dippolito, Sets The Record Straight About Murder-For-Hire Video, Appeal

ABC 20/20 will interview convicted Florida killer, Dalia Dippolito, tonight in an ABC 20/20 exclusive. Dalia Dippolito’s case was in the news in 2009, after she was caught on tape setting up a hit to have her husband killed. Today, she wants everyone to know that it was all a set up for a reality show that Dalia and her husband, Michael “Mike” Dippolito, hoped to film.

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In the ABC 20/20 sneak peak, Dalia explains that she wants to set the record straight about the horrible things that have been said about her, stating they are simply not true. Instead, she says that she is a sweet, understanding, and compassionate person who would never resort to murder.

In addition to Dalia Dippolito, ABC 20/20 will speak with the attorneys on both sides of the case and provide video of Dalia’s police interrogation. Court records show that when Mike and Dalia met in 2008, she was working as a professional escort. Still, Mike was struck by her beauty, her Catholic upbringing, and was impressed with her nice family. They had a passionate relationship that started very fast and one that was punctuated by lots of sex. What Dalia says she didn’t know was that Michael Dippolito was still on probation for a stint he did in prison, according to 20/20. About that, Dalia made the following statement.

“After months of being together, his probation officer showed up at our home. I had no idea who it was. When he told me he just completely downplayed everything… I wouldn’t have dated him if I had known.”

Despite Michael Dippolito’s former problems with the law, together they thought their future was bright. However, at some point, the relationship between them became volatile, prompting Dalia to tell her close friends that Mike was abusive to her. One friend she confided in was a man named Mohamed Shihadeh, who suggested that Dalia file a formal complaint to the police about the domestic violence. Instead, Mohamed Shihadeh said Dalia wanted Mike dead.

In 2009, Mohammad contacted the Boynton Beach Police Department to tell them that Dalia was trying to set up the murder of her husband. It was a crazy story that sounded like it was something out of movie. Still, detectives needed to investigate and substantiate the claim. One way they did that was by having Mohammad trick Dalia into meeting him in his vehicle, where a conversation would take place about how she wanted to hire a hit man. Surveillance video captured Dalia’s every statement that seemed to clearly indicate she was willing to find someone to kill Mike.

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Detectives contacted Mike to tell him that Dalia was planning to have him murdered, and they quickly whisked him away to safety. With Mike hidden away at the police station, officers set up a phony crime scene around the couple’s home and later informed Dalia that her husband was found dead, according to The Palm Beach Post.

The entire nation watched Dalia receiving the bad news on video, making the video go viral for weeks. At trial, she was eventually found guilty and sentenced to time in prison. Now, her attorneys are getting back to work since there has been a reversal in the case, giving them the chance to prove that the Boynton Beach Police Department broke some laws and used Dalia as part of a reality show casting. ABC 20/20 stated it as follows.

“‘COPS’ cameras were recording, along with Boynton Beach police’s, when officers told Michael Dippolito about the alleged murder plot. Police then staged a fake crime scene at Dippolito’s home to make it seem like he was killed, and then called Dalia Dippolito to tell her what had happened.”

Even more bizarre, Dalia tells 20/20 that the entire murder-for-hire scenario was a set up from the beginning, and that they had hoped to upload it to YouTube in order to get their own reality show.

There are so many more details and updates to this case that will be revealed on 20/20 tonight at 10/9 p.m. central, when viewers everywhere will get to see what both Dalia and Mike have to say about this turn of events.

[Image via Twitter]